Thoughts and opinions on airways and resuscitation science

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REVIVE airway study – clinical outcomes and future plans

Since plans were first announced to conduct a randomised comparison of two second generation SADs to current practice in the initial airway management of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in a UK ambulance service, the results have been eagerly anticipated. This can be no surprise given the paucity of high level evidence to confirm the best technique for maintaining an airway and providing ventilation in adults with cardiopulmonary arrest.

However, the primary objective of REVIVE was not to provide a definitive answer to the above question, but to assess the feasibility of the study design. If REVIVE proved the design was feasible, capable of establishing whether ventilation success can be achieved, and of measuring other key outcomes such as return of spontaneous ventilation and survival to hospital, then it would lay the foundation for a future full-scale study which might just provide us with the answer to the above question.

Last month, in an abstract presented at the American Heart Association Resuscitation Science Symposium in Dallas, we had our first glimpse of the data related to the clinical outcomes. As this was a feasibility trial and not designed or powered to show clinically significant differences between each device or study arm, there was some discussion as to whether the clinical data should be released. However, the protocol published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), suggests the original intention had always been to disseminate the clincial data to participants in the study and to the wider public via an open access web-site, appropriate conferences and medical journals.

The results showed no significant differences in important clinical outcomes between the use of a supraglottic airway (SAD) and usual practice (principally tracheal intubation) during OHCA. However, the trial was insufficiently powered to detect small differences in mortality. The i-gel® was superior to the LMA Supreme® on several measures, including compliance, adverse events and staff feedback. The investigators are proceeding to a large-scale trial of i-gel® versus tracheal intubation in OHCA.

For the record, the survival to hospital discharge was as follows:

• i-gel® 10.3%
• LMA Supreme® 8.0%
• Usual practice 9.1%

(p=0.73)

Survival to 90 days is shown below:

• i-gel® 9.5%
• LMA Supreme® 6.9%
• Usual practice 8.6%

(p=0.65)

Data was also presented on neurocognitive and quality of life outcomes, as well as successful device placement. There was also interesting data regarding the number of arrests attended by each paramedic (March 2012 to February 2013), which ranged from 0-11, with a mean of 3.6 arrests per paramedic. 15 paramedics did not attend any arrest during the study period. There were presentations confirming how the airway was actually managed in practice and feedback from the paramedics that participated in the study.

Successful aspects of REVIVE included proof of the feasibility of a cluster randomised trial of airway intervention in OHCA and the collection of valuable data to inform a full trial. It also demonstrated the strong support of paramedics and informed statistical calculations for a larger study. So, what next?

Comparative cost effectiveness of the i-gel® and intubation, as well as the views and preferences of paramedics is also to be assessed.

It is intended the design will be a cluster randomised trial (by paramedic), with an airway algorithm for each arm. Clinical need will always take precedence and there will be an economic analysis, as well as patient and public involvement. An outline bid has been successful, and a full proposal is to follow (5th February 2014). It is intended for the trial to run for 45 months, from October 2014 to June 2018.

REVIVE 2 will need approximately 1,300 paramedics. This will probably require the inclusion of three or four large UK ambulance trusts. It is estimated the cost for REVIVE 2 will be £2 million. The investigators are ready to begin.

Four and a half years (probably 5 years before the results are reported) may seem a long time to wait for the conclusion of REVIVE 2, but given the lack of high level data currently available regarding the best airway device to use during the initial phase of OHCA, it will be worth the wait.

Intersting results, thanks for the post Dave. A more important question to ask at this stage is not whether intubation or LMA is superior to each other, but to test if either intubation or LMA is superior compared to just plain old BVM ventilation. A very new meta-analysis of airway management in cardiac arrest show that bag-valve-mask ventilation might be superior to either intubation or suprglottic airways http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.3109/10903127.2013.831509